As the cold days of the winter wane, and the promise of spring approaches, you're probably thinking, "How can I get more involved in politics on a local level?" I know we are.

So we're regrouping again to have regular meetings and kicking this off next Tuesday, March 6, at 7 PM at the Nazzaro Community Center with an awesome guest speaker -- Kade Crockford of the ACLU of Massachusetts.

Kade Crockford will be speaking about a new campaign here in Boston to curb the unaccountable use of new surveillance technologies. Three weeks ago, ACLU Mass released a report detailing how the Boston Police Department used a social media monitoring tool called "Geofeedia" to track social media posts from 2014 to 2016, especially those using phrases like "blacklivesmatter" and "muslimlivesmatter."

City Councilors Michelle Wu and Andrea Campbell have introduced a hearing order calling for a hearing on an ordinance that would require city departments (including the police) to go before the council to get approval before acquiring or using new surveillance tech, like Geofeedia -- akin to an ordinance that Seattle already has on the books.

We'll be hearing from Kade about the campaign and how we can plug in.

We'll also be talking about ways to get involved with other issue advocacy campaigns and the many electoral campaigns this more. We'd also love to hear what YOU would like to see on the agenda for this and future meeting, so please email us back with ideas!